Wanna join a band? MSHB might just be for you. Because, in keeping with Maher vocalist and guiding light Tori Kudo’s beatific, Old Testament-inspired philosophy (the name comes from the book of Isaiah), anybody wishing to accompany Japan’s most wide-eyed and woozy of musical exports, can. But embracers of this open door policy - when the band spearhead the mini Japanese Music Festival this weekend - might have trouble keeping up with such naive mavericks, whose last album showcased 83 songs, and whose forthcoming Blues

Du Jour features another 41.

Their skew-whiff euphonium-led campfire nursery rhyme whimsy sounds not unlike a collapsing marching band overdosed on Jonathan Richman and Red Crayola, but with the volume down low so as to not disturb the livestock. As winter warmers go, Maher Shalal Hash Baz are

I The Complete Stone Roses, the Star 69 and Poor Old Ben Barrowland. 244 (iallow'gate. 552 460l. 7pm. £10. ()yer- l4s show. Speaking ol‘ Mancunian shamblers . . . a tribute to the originals and the best of the bttnch.